A calendar I did for my friends...

[tOGGY]

ToGGY, i think these may not be the 12 best pics of his anyway. He probably chose these pics as it's representative of the place. Tulips (not any flower bloom) for Amsterdam, White building with White Cross and deep blue water are also a common scene in Santorini. I believe it's not widely seen in other parts of Greece like Mykonos etc as well.

I think overall, this is an excellent series and how i wish i am one of his friends that he forget to buy sourvenir for!

I doubt these are his best. AReality has capable eyes and hand. Just teasing out more from him as the series can hit very high level. I doubt he will leave it at this point after reaching this level. Once complete with the details like school hols and chap goh meh, we will see a first class local calender!!
PS - The two photos critiqued are good as photos. Just that the competition is tough with these images because of the abundance of superb ones in this beaten path. Just my honest feeling, not being unappreciative or nasty. I think AReality will look at us with jaundiced eyes if all the comments are all cursory nice, nice, super, super ..
PS 2 - I hope you will get a copy of his calender.

 

[Splutter]

Very interesting idea! Think you should really print it bigger though

 

[Sjourn]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: excellent idea and pics!

 

[AixisOfJustice]

These are really, really outstanding!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

What special software did u use to create the calender? Just using PS can or not?

 

[srisaro]

Hey , This same place is featured in "EF Lens Work III", Page 98 for the EF 24-70 F 2.8 literature.. So coincidental.. Good Job !

 

[Hommie]

I think landscape mode would work best in your series but having cropped the picture so tightly loses much of it scale in the process. Why don't you overlay the months and additional info on the picture itself?

 

[zekai]

very professional piece of work.

the idea is amazing, it will be a very good advertising medium for your photographic ability.

 

[AReality]

ortega, toggy: overlooked the overlap, will adjust and see how's the effect.


jopel: will try the different ways u mentioned. But I don't want the viewer's eyes to stare at the border. So I'm thinking of something simple, or remove it also can...


lumen: I want each photo to represent the place I went, though wat u suggested is possible, but not my aim..


nuts: quite true... The design is a headache.


joho, splutter: bro, 4R enuff liao la. Did some test printing, it's big enuff. At 4R per piece, it's over $4 per set.


detrop: like what joho said, depends on the background image used. As a whole of 12 months, it may look quite untidy, but when it's binded together and flipped thru one page by one page, the untidiness disappears. I tried putting the pics on the right for some months, it didn't work.


srisaro: That is actually quite a common photo. Except it took me 1/2 a day to hunt for the subject. Though Santorini is more famous for it's whitewashed houses hanging on the cliffs (as shown on the front cover of the calendar), I don't want a duplicate of similar subjects, so chose this instead.


AxisOfJustice: I use Adobe Indesign. Photoshop can, but it lacks the snap-to-grid feature, so aligning objects will be difficult, especially for multi-paged documents.


hommie: I thought of doing it landscape also, but the paper will be in portrait form, and the designs will be stacked vertically, which is not really what i wanted. To use the overlaying method u described will need different types of photos; those that has an area of low contrast and little distracting details so that the month can be placed on top. This will severely limit the photos I can show.




Thanks all for your comments & suggestions. Sorry tomshen ;p & the others, but this is not for sale.

 

[jOhO]

gavin, ps does snap to grid (or at least guides?), i use it alot, just that u can't specify the exact location of the guide except by zooming in to 1600% and using the ruler to "argar argar"

 

[londonray]

great work there... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: me just came back from Italy... Also forgot to buy back some stuff ... maybe should try to make a Calander or something like a series of photos... Of course won't be of the same standard... your quality is exceptional...

Adobe Indesign... is it freely available or must buy? Anyway, really like the Cinque Terre photo. Was there myself... great great shot... I went in Late june so have to wait until 10pm before it gets dark enough... so didn't really get good night shots... kudos to you...

 

[Chlee]

wow!! fantastic pics..... and very professional layout.... :thumbsup:

I tried doing a calendar myself too... but standard is far from yours...
Any easy way of creating the calendar? i mean the dates....
I created it using the stupid way by adding 1 date layer by layer.... which took me quite a while to do.... :sweat: would appreciate if you could share any easier and less time consuming way of doing it..... planning to do another 1 for next year.....

 

[jbma]

Great stuff man. However I do agree with Hommie that landscape mode would do wonders for your shots as some of the details cannot be seen if cropped tightly. Nonetheless very well captured. :thumbsup:

 

[Pokka]

awesome pics i must say!
however, the fonts used in the first pic is lacking something. its like, it doesnt have the punch.
perhaps something can be done to the fonts to give it more power?

 

[axid]

i absolutely love the santorini greece shot with the blue & white!

thought the cover and the venice italy shots a bit dull on the colours compared to the rest, but that one was more of cos the conditions were bad so lighting wasnt that great?

pardon me if im wrong im a newbie

still love them anyways

 

[cosycatus]

i was literally "Wah"-ing all the way i scroll down to view the pics..
tot i had seen my share of good pics here and on photo.net...

but...once more.. WAH!

 

[Clown]

Dude ur shots are totally amazing!
it's my dream to travel and take pictures like u!

*kowtow*

 

[AReality]

jOhO: ahh.. Indesign easier lah... It's meant for such things also...


londonray: It's not free [www.adobe.com]. Yeah, the sunset was at ard 10pm. Good thing is the sun sets before the last train, & I don't have to walk back to my town..


Chlee: Easier way? Maybe download those programs specially to create calendar? But like this u don't have control over the whole design.


jbma: If i use landscape, then the design of the calendar will look odd. Unless I can find a way to fit landscape photos into landscape paper format...


Pokka: will look into better fonts.. thanks..


axid: the 2 shots u mentioned is because no direct sunlight is falling onto the foreground, making it look darker than the rest. This makes the objects look more dull/flat.


Clown: Hey! U went europe also rite? when & where's the exhibition?


.

 

[liyun86]

pretty~ :thumbsup:

 

[eikin]

Haven’t got time to go through the pictures in detail, here’re some passing thoughts after looking through them for the second time...

Cover page – I think this scene may benefit more if it was taken at an earlier time when the buildings that cascade down the slope catches more light. Right now I feel to much of it has gone into the shadows.

Myconos – beautifully clean. Nice exposure for the sky and a good crop as well.

Paros – I like the highlight on the goat’s fur caused by the sun behind it. Interesting angle as well, and I like the fact that you positioned the frame against the goat in a rather neat position.

Santorini – the crosses (one on the dome and the other on the bell frame) tends to lead my eye beyond the bell frame, would prefer a wider crop and if possible the inclusion of the horizon. Cutting the window at the bottom frame line doesn’t quite work for me as well.

Vatican City – very interesting play of depth in this picture. I think the building’s frame has been used appropriately as well.

Cinque Terre – You have a good location indeed for shooting this scene. I like the exposure as well, just nice for the sky and the lights.

Florence – would prefer if this picture was taken at a position further behind where you are standing. Let the statue’s long shadow lead to the statue more dramatically.

Venice – Interesting pattern, unfortunately the lighting condition isn’t favourable.

Reutte – same thing stand back more if you need to, don’t like the cropping away of the bench.

Fussen – Beautiful scene that’s nicely captured. Well composed.

Prague – well taken street-shot. I think this picture bring out something fun about Prague.

Amsterdam – the way the single flower is singled out is nice, my eye rest comfortably on that flower, so I think you chose the right flower for this framing.

Paris – go lower for more drama.

One more thing, I think it’ll be good for you to include the name of the exact location of the photograph as some of them are not easily associated with the city/region names.

 

[enegue]

Great photos you have! May I know how much did u spend altogether for the Europe trip?